Twins Links: Colabello, Hunter, Catching

A 12-11 record usually isn’t anything to write home about, yet the Twins will happily take even a slight winning record following their dismal 195-291 record over the last three seasons. Here’s some news from the Gopher State…

Chris Colabello has been one of baseball’s top hitters over the season’s opening month, and the unlikely star’s long road to the Majors is chronicled by Peter Gammons in his latest piece for his Gammons Daily site.

Many of the Twins’ problems over the last three seasons could’ve been avoided had the team simply kept Torii Hunter in the fold, Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. Before Hunter left to sign a free agent contract with the Angels following the 2007 season, Reusse argues that the Twins should’ve used some of their incoming funds from the approved Target Field to lock Hunter up to a long-term extension in 2006.

There’s enough catching depth in the Twins’ farm system that the pipeline is “a little stacked up,” Minnesota VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff tells Phil Miller in a piece for Baseball America. “We’re juggling a little bit, or having a couple guys try other positions to get at-bats. I don’t think we expected quite so many to (show improvement), and some guys have really surprised us.” Miller’s article highlights Alex Swim, a 22nd-round pick from the 2013 draft who has played well enough to earn a trip to low-A ball but can’t make the team since the Twins already have three catchers on the low-Class A roster. Josmil Pinto, of course, is Minnesota’s young catching hope of the future if he can settle his defense, while the 2014 Baseball America Prospect Handbook ranked backstop Stuart Turner as the 30th-best prospect in the Twins’ system.